Lululemon // Stay Wild

Sample:

Photographer Matt Gonzalez is on a layover at JFK between the Dominican Republic and his home in Portland, Oregon, where he’s about to embark upon an entirely different sort of journey. He’s finding himself in good company as the next ambassador for Lululemon’s Washington Square outpost. “They have a way of finding the most incredible, genuine people. The type of people who lift everyone up around them,” he says. Having been the one to capture portraits of previous ambassadors — most of whom are fitness gurus — it’ll be different to have the camera turned on him for a change. Gonzalez’s mantra as a photographer? “Every person deserves to have a picture of themselves that they love. I want other people to see the photo and say, ‘Yes, that is that person to a T.’”

Gonzales is used to shooting Lululemon’s ambassadors in their natural habitats, be they boutique studios, yoga classes on the beach, or sweaty training rooms where the bass is always turned way up. “It’s the greatest job in the world to get to take photos of the people Lululemon finds out in the community. I’ve stayed in touch with most of the ambassadors I’ve shot over the last few years,” he says. “Every time I walk into one of their stores I feel greeted by friends.” Gonzales and his family fell in love with the PNW and he eventually settled into the enclave of YoYoYogi in NW Portland. Their Lululemon-sponsored charity events linked him up with the company and he hasn’t looked back since. “They sell stretchy pants so they can change the world,” Gonzales says. And he means it.